The holidays are quickly approaching and this month is being spent preparing for them with parties and events such as the one we attended yesterday morning at the Tacoma Goodwill’s Milgard Center. The Santa Breakfast is a collaboration with the Sunrise Notary and is a wonderful holiday event that is over 10 years old! We were invited by Christine (thanks Christine! your antlers were really cute!) and were excited to take a trip south to Tacoma to check out a couple of stores new to us as well.

Of course our first stop was for some yummies after our drive. The volunteers were very attentive, the crowds were full of kids ready to see Santa and the syrup was sticky-sweetness!

Then it was onto the kids craft area… but we got sidetracked easily in the “balloon room” and ended up staying there for a long time having a BLAST! Next year Tacoma Goodwill should make an entire room full of balloons for another side activity since this one was such a hit with more than one child!

We then tried to see Santa and were offered stuffed animals or books and bags of goodies but our little one was only interested in playing with the balloon. So we decided to drive over to the other stores and check out the Tacoma Goodwill’s toy sale (currently 30% off most toys and games) and their “Christmas stores” for some extra decorations for our party next Friday night.

By this time the little one was getting ready for a nap so we needed to head back home. But mommy did find a holiday present, an entire box full of brand-new wooden blocks for 30% off $3.99!

We were still looking for some other items to get our home truly ready for the holiday party on Friday, December 16th so later in the evening we went to the NEW Edmonds Goodwill. I’ve been to enough thrift store openings to know that they usually stock the store with higher-end pieces and it’s usually like that for up to a month after the grand opening… so since we have 20 people coming over for our party and I’ve been needing to find a couple of last minute holiday gifts Edmonds Goodwill was on our sites!

And believe me… the NEW Edmonds Goodwill did not disappoint! The store was immaculate, the staff very attentive and helpful and lot of really great goodies! I ended up finding a designer present for somebody that normally is running at $250 to $300 dollars at discount sites like Overstock.com and is in great condition! Needless to say it was less than $100 and working just fine! I also picked up a designer luggage piece to go with that DVF makeup case, a file cabinet for only $4.99 and we dropped off a couple of donations while we were at it. I will be posting images of all the holiday gifts I’ve purchased in the next week (I’m waiting a bit so I don’t give away my surprise to those friends/family that read this blog) so that you can get your own holiday ideas going!

I will be sharing some of the holiday decorating I’ve done with Goodwill pieces for our party this next week so stay tuned for some ideas for your own holiday parties!